1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



477 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 

 TO PICKLE OR PRESERVE RIPE CUCUMBERS. 



Some two years ago a gentleman gave me a 

 recipe obtained in Pennsylvania, for pickling or 

 preserving ripe or yellow seed cucumbers. It has 

 occurred to me that in this season of great scarc- 

 ity of the fruits usually used in making preserves, 

 it might be a public benefit if you would publish 

 it in your valuable paper. I send it as it was 

 given to me. I think a better preserve can be 

 made by using a pint or pound of vinegar to four 

 pounds of sugar and eight of fruit. The speci- 

 men is slightly flavored with nutmeg, and will be 

 much better when the sugar and spice shall have 

 thoroughly permeated the fruit. 



Without pretending to "extract sunbeams from 

 cucumbers," I think you will agree with me that 

 a very desirable, not to say delicious article, may 

 be obtained from a substance usually considered 

 worthless. Willl\m F. Wheeler. 



Lincoln, Sept. 16, 1861. 



Remarks. — Mr. Wheeler was kind enough 

 to bring us a jar of the preserves which he had 

 prepared, and it is both beautiful and delicious. 

 No one would suspect its being cucumber. It is a 

 most delicious "sweet pickle," and to those who 

 need acid will prove a valuable acquisition to the 

 condiments of the table. The recipe he handed 

 us is as follows : 



Take cucumbers thoroughly ripe, pare them 

 and scrape out the seeds. Cut them in slices to 

 suit convenience and soak them in vinegar, 

 from 12 to 24 hours. Boil them in fresh vinegar, 

 sweetened and spiced to suit the taste, until they 

 become tender. They may be made as preserves 

 by making the vinegar sweet and rich enough to 

 be eaten as juice, which will require about four 

 pounds of sugar to ten of fruit. The vinegar 

 should be of the best kind. 



failures as well as successes. 



Some one has lately raised the query, whether, 

 in speaking of crops, it is not duty to tell of fail- 

 ures as well as successes in cultivation. I say 

 not. Every lazy fellow can find enough of this 

 knowledge, within the limits of his own experi- 

 ence. To speak of successful culture and how it 

 is brought about is the kind of teaching that is 

 most commendable. Instance the Indian of tvro 

 hundred years ago, who, living mainly on the fish 

 taken from the stream, knew that by inserting a 

 kernel of corn in the earth, a plant would spring 

 up, from which, perhaps in nine cases out of ten, 

 an ear might be expected. But he had not 

 learned to prepare the earth, so that ten stalks 

 might grow where but one grew before ; and that 

 each of these stalks might yield two or more ears, 

 full and complete, instead of one, pinched and 

 shrivelled. Such carpings on useful communica- 

 tions show a narrow mind and perhaps a disap- 

 pointed ambition. Let us have the story of all 

 full crops, and how they are made so ; and let 

 those who have hitherto neglected to learn, profit 

 by the instruction. P. 



August 30, 1861. 



Remedy for Blind Staggers. — A writer in 

 the Charleston Courier gives an effectual remedy 



for that formidable disease in horses, the blind 

 staggers, the recipe being as follows : Gum cam- 

 phor one ounce ; whisky or brandy, one pint — dis- 

 solve. Dose — One gill, in a half pint of gum ar- 

 able, flax seed, or other mucilaginous tea, given 

 every three or four hours ; seldom necessary to 

 give more than three doses. The horse must be 

 kept from water twenty-four hours. Never bleed 

 in this disease. 



ACTION OF SALT AND SALTPETRE ON 



MEAT. 



The following interesting account of the action 

 of salt and saltpetre on meat will doubtless be 

 new to many of our readers: 



The manner in which salt operates in its pre- 

 servative functions is obvious. Salt, by its 

 strong affinity, in the first place, extracts the 

 juices from the substance of meat in sufficient 

 quantity to form a saturated solution with the 

 water contained in the juice, and the meat then 

 absorbs the saturated brine in the place of the 

 juice extracted by the salt ^ in the first place. 

 Thus, matter incapable of putrefaction takes the 

 place of that portion of the meat which is most 

 perishable. Such, however, is not the only oflfice 

 of salt as a means of preserving meat : it also 

 acts by its astringency in contracting the fibres 

 of the muscles, and so excludes the action of air 

 on the interior of the substance of the meat. The 

 last-mentioned operation of salt as an antiseptic 

 is evinced by the diminution of the volume of 

 meat to which it is applied. 



The astringent action of saltpetre on meat is 

 much greater than that of salt, and thereby ren- 

 ders the meat to which it is applied very hard ; 

 but in small quantities it considerably assists the 

 antiseptic action of salt, and it also prevents the 

 destruction of the Acrid (or red) color of the meat 

 by the application of salt. From the foregoing 

 statement of the mode of operation of salt and 

 saltpetre on meat, it will be perceived that the 

 application of these matters deteriorates, in a 

 considerable degree, the nutritive, and, to some 

 extent, the wholesome qualities of meat ; and, 

 therefore, in their use, the quantity applied should 

 be as small as possibly consistent with the perfect 

 preservation of the meat. — Farmer and Gardener. 



To Ripen Late Tomatoes. — The tomato sea- 

 son ends with the first part of autumn. If the 

 plants are pulled up before the frost comes, and 

 hung up in a well ventilated cellar, with the to- 

 matoes on them, the fruit will continue ripening 

 until Christmas. The cellar should not be too 

 dry, nor too warm. — Genesee Farmer. 



In Britain we hang them up under the roof of 

 a vinery or peach-house, from which the fruit has 

 been gathered. In this way they ripen, although 

 quite green when removed from the ground. So 

 excellent a fruit, however, deserves to be grown 

 throughout the winter, which is easily done by 

 growing them in twelve-inch pots, and setting 

 them in a melon or cucumber pit, after the melon 

 crop is finished. In a mean temperature of 65° 

 they will continue to grow and ripen their fruit 

 until the season returns for commencing melon 

 culture again. — Scottish Farmer and Horticul- 

 turist. 



